Ledyard weighs dispatch alliance as Montville complex prepares to open

Friday

Dec 28, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 28, 2012 at 2:16 PM

Ledyard may ask for prices next month from three entities vying to provide emergency dispatch services, Mayor John Rodolico said Thursday.

JAMES MOSHER

Ledyard may ask for prices next month from three entities vying to provide emergency dispatch services, Mayor John Rodolico said Thursday.

Montville, Groton and Ledyard’s own current in-house dispatch team have made presentations for a contract of at least five years, Rodolico said. Ledyard leaders plan to meet with officials from the Office of Statewide Emergency Telecommunications, which oversees Connecticut 911 services, in early January to assess the cost and regulatory landscape, the mayor said.

“We’re still in the process of evaluating,” Rodolico said. “If we have enough information after our meeting with OSET, we may make a decision. If not, we may move to the next step, which is pricing.”

Ledyard leaders are trying to pin down what financial incentives the state will provide if the town moves into a regional dispatch arrangement with Montville or Groton.

Montville is trying to recruit Ledyard and Preston into a regional dispatch alliance that would have its own board of directors, according to Montville Mayor Ron McDaniel. The alliance would have its dispatchers stationed at the new Montville Public Safety Complex, which is scheduled to open next month. Ledyard currently dispatches Preston’s ambulance and fire calls and Preston leaders have chosen to wait on deciding their service future until Ledyard decides.

The complex had its final special inspections recently and nothing was found that would delay the opening, Town Planner Marcia Vlaun said during a Thursday meeting of the Montville Public Safety Building Committee at Town Hall. Construction is 98.19 percent complete, Vlaun wrote in a slide used in her presentation.

Even a traffic plan dispute with the state Department of Transportation is not expected to prevent the Route 32 center’s ribbon-cutting and open house, Vlaun said.

“None of these are heart-stopping issues,” she said.

Worker training sessions are scheduled for Jan. 8 and 9, with the open house occurring on the Saturday of that week, Vlaun said.

Construction costs came in about $400,000 under estimate and the $6.4 million project’s final cost was under estimate by a similar amount, according to Vlaun’s slide.

The planned building of a new Ledyard police station and a decision on whether Ledyard will leave the resident state trooper program and start an independent police force will greatly impact the dispatch selection, Rodolico said. Ledyard plans to make a dispatch decision by March, he said.